Euro 2016 Begins To Take Shape

With around 200 days left until the start of Euro 2016, we now know which teams will be in the running for the Henri Delaunay Trophy.

The biggest European Championship to date, 24 different nations will travel to France in June next year, with a resurgent Spain aiming to secure an unprecedented Euro hat-trick.

World champions Germany will be sure to stand in La Roja’s way, as will a Les Bleus side boosted by home advantage – though people would be unwise to rule out the usual suspects of Italy, Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal and Belgium’s golden generation.

It promises to be a tournament to remember for the British Isles, as four of the five Home Nations – England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland – have qualified for the finals.

Euro 2016 also marks two decades since the last time a major football tournament was held in the UK, as well as the last time an England men’s team made it as far as the semi-finals.

Alan Shearer OBE was a key member of Kevin Keegan’s side at Euro 96, his five goals making him the tournament’s top scorer as he helped the Three Lions to within a penalty shootout of the final.

Bagging four goals against Switzerland, Scotland and the Netherlands in the group stages, he converted a penalty to help England past Spain in the quarter-finals and headed his side into the lead against Germany in the semi-final.

As has often been the case with the national team, it ended in glorious defeat as Die Nationalelf went on to win the semi-final on the way to their first title as a unified nation, but Alan did his bit as he converted his spot kick against Berti Vogts’s charges.

With a total of 30 goals in 63 appearances for England, Alan can be considered a Three Lions great, and with a further 283 strikes at club level for Southampton, Blackburn Rovers and boyhood club Newcastle United, he is a player for the history books.

His extensive career at the top of English football allows him to provide invaluable advice as a football speaker on maximising success and peak performance, not to mention giving the audience a chance to hear a multitude of entertaining and informative anecdotes relating to the beautiful game.

To book Alan Shearer OBE as a keynote or after dinner speaker for your football, sport or business event with Champions Speakers, please call us on +44 1509 85 29 27 or fill in our online form today.